Synopsis

It’s time for answers.

Ichabod Crane made a sacrifice to save the future.

Now the future has come to Sleepy Hollow, and it threatens to take even more from him.

Ichabod must embark on a dangerous journey to save his family and his legacy…

…but he’s not prepared for the nightmares that await him.

The Queen of Hearts reigns supreme. The Horseman rides again.
And in the shadows, the Hollow Ones are waiting.

Only Ichabod can stop the gathering darkness…

…but sometimes, darkness wins.

A Crockett and Crane novella, set between Book 2: Deadwood, and Book 3: Westenra. The series begins with Book 1: Horseman, available in Kindle Unlimited and on Audible. This story also ties into the Beaumont and Beasley series by Kyle Robert Shultz.

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MAGIC! TIME TRAVEL! ALICE IN WONDERLAND! A COMPLEX STORYLINE! FEEEELS! It’s like absolutely everything I love in stories got smashed into this single novella and punched me in the gut. As all truly good stories do.

It’s taken me a while to get to this review because hoooowwww do I even review this thing??? It’s absolutely no secret that I have 1000% fallen into the Afterverse fandom and can’t get out. These books of fairy tales and humor and timey-wimeyness are a pure delight, and we’ve come such a long way!

THE RUNDOWN

This is technically book 2.5 of the Crockett and Crane series. It’s meant to be read after Book 2: Deadwood. BUT. It also ties in things from the Beaumont and Beasley series. It’s basically a big compilation of ALL the Afterverse things we’ve experienced to this point. So if you’ve read all the Beaumont and Beasley and Crockett and Crane books, YOU NEED THIS ONE. If you’re not caught up yet…well, hurry up and read the others so you can read this one!

Usually I split my reviews up into nice categories and go into probably way more detail than anyone needs, but this review is going to be a bit different. Since basically this WHOLE book is one ginormous SPOILER, I honestly can’t delve into much.

SO. Instead of a nice organized review that tells you what this book is about, I’m going to toss you a list of random things in it with no context. #HELPFUL But it’ll be a list of (spoiler-free) EPIC things that will hopefully convince you that YOU NEED THIS STORY.

WHY YOU NEED THIS BOOK

ICHABOD CRANE – Remember Ichabod Crane from Horseman (Crockett and Crane #1)? Yeah. HE’S BACK. Not only is he back, but he’s our protagonist! It was really interesting getting the story from the perspective of an “outsider”. As in, not someone who’s been part of the gang from either series. But oho, he’s still very much part of the events, and I love his tenacity to get things DONE. He was tasked with a Very Important mission, one that became super personal and just… *sniffles* He had to make a lot of hard decisions. We’re gonna leave it at that.

KATRINA – She was a new addition and awesome and wouldn’t put up with Ichabod’s nonsense and I loved her. I hope we get to see more of her sometime.

TIME TRAVEL – We’ve had quite a bit of timey-wimey things going down in the last few books but THIS ONE. This one took it to a whole ‘nuther level. I’d say it’s probably the most time travel-centric book we’ve gotten yet and just YES PLEEEEEASE. I LOOOooooOOOve me some good, epic time travel, and this book delivered! Let’s just say it’s sort of a prequel AND sequel to all the prior books. Yeah, it gets complicated. In the best way!

ALICE IN WONDERLAND THREADS – *fangirl shrieking* If you’ve known me for all of 0.7 seconds, you probably know I have a rather unhealthy obsession with all things Wonderland. (I own 14 copies of Alice in Wonderland and counting, if that tells you anything…) These books have been tossing in a few Wonderland-ish things here and there, but this one REALLY brought out a lot more of it, namely the Queen of Hearts. Do you hear that high-pitched squealing? Yeah, that’s me.

SO MANY ANSWERS (and so many more questions) – Let’s be real, the last few books have left us with a LOT of unresolved plot threads and some 289384 questions. WELL. This story brings all those threads crashing down into one feels-inducing explosion and I may never recover. Even though it’s literally just a novella (a mere 113 pages) it contains SO. MUCH. We learn some backstory of…a certain person. Actually, a few certain persons and just AKJDLSJFDF MY HEART. But, in good ol’ fashion Shultz style, some answers come with even MORE questions. #NICE

CAMEOS GALORE – But that’s all I’m saying about that. *smile, smile*

FEELS – Need I say more? I’d say this is one of the darkest Afterverse books, with good reason. A lot of intense stuff goes down. It’s still all very family-friendly, and there’s certainly humor to balance it out, like the previous books. But since it’s so short and full of, well, STUFF (so elaborate, I know) there’s not a lot of time for lighthearted moments. It’s more a high-action, breathless, oh-my-word-the-world-is-doooomed type of story. Good times, good times.

PLOT TWISTS – Oh, stars above. The plot twists! On multiple occasions I had to just set the book down and process what I just read. Because W H A T. Itwasgreat.

DANGER. MONSTERS. MAGIC. OH MY! – This book is just so FULL of awesomeness, it’s hard to encompass it all even in list form. The stakes were HIIIIIGH. There were alllll sorts of different, absolutely fascinating, and scary monsters and villains. And it’s all interlaced with the fun magic system from both series, runes and potions and time travel and all that good stuff!

Basically? This book was e v e r y t h i n g. In just a little over 100 pages, Shultz managed to bring together so much of what both his series have led up to. And oh my poor fragile heart, was it a wild, breathless ride!

If you’ve been following the Afterverse books up to this point, YOU NEED HOLLOW. If you have no clue what the Afterverse books even ARE, I’m just gonna forcefully shove politely prod you over to The Beast of Talesend, the book that started it all.

Reveals, time travel, feels galore, dynamic characters—new and familiar—high stakes, and danger at every corner, Hollow was an absolutely explosive (quite literally) continuation of the Afterverse storyline.

. . . 5 out of 5 Stars . . .

LET’S TALK!

Have you read Hollow yet? (‘Cause I need people to scream with!) Have you read any of the Afterverse stories? (THEY’RE SO GOOD, GUYS.) Do you like time travel? What about complex, overarching storylines? (Those are my favorite, which is the big reason why I’m so hooked on these books.)

NOTE: Huge thanks to the author for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.